Saturday, December 05, 2015

Saturday, December 5, 2015. Chaos and violence continue, Turkey invades Iraq (but says it's there to help), the US government continues to 'help' by bombing Iraq, public radio has a serious discussion about these efforts, Sunnis continue to be persecuted, and much more.

Today, the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in Iraq

Bomber,
fighter, ground attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in
Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near
Habbaniyah, one strike suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Kisik,
one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Mosul,
two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL heavy
machine gun and two ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near
Sinjar, one strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb and an ISIL fighting
position.

Task force
officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly
the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect.
Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon
against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft
delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in
a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets
harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not
report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of
munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact
points against a target.

US President Barack Obama began these bombings in August of 2014. Fifteen months later and there's no progress.

Diane Rehm: Indeed we had this e-mail from Marsha in Indianapolis, "Please discuss how our bombing in Syria and Iraq is contributing to radicalization, especially in our country."Jonathan Tepperman: This is something that the Obama administration is very concerned about and is one of the reason that the US effort has been -- the bombing effort has been much less effective than it could have been precisely because ISIS is no dummy -- are no dummies. They know that if they position their forces within urband centers, which they do, it makes it much harder for us to attack them without causing massive civilian casualties, which is what has been happening.

And later, Nancy Youssef observed, "Lander is I think really getting at, you know, we hear from the U.S. and
European officials all the time that there's no military solution to
defeating ISIS, that it has to be a political defeat, and yet the
primary approach is a military one, and that in tackling al-Qaeda with a
military approach, it led to a something more grotesque ISIS. And this
fear that with every sort of military campaign, rather than eliminating
an idea, which of course Obama cannot, it is just fueling the next
iteration of terror groups."

Next,
in full coordination with the government of Iraq, we're deploying a
specialized, expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish
Peshmerga forces and put even more pressure on ISIL. These special
operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free hostages,
gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders.

Friday, Margaret Prescod was joined for her news roundtable by University of Houston's Dr. Gerald Horne, activist and politician Jackie Goldberg and Tom Hayden.

At the top of the show, Margaret Prescod observed, "The US is increasing special operations forces on the ground in Iraq which would also be that would also be involved in raids in Syria."

Tom Hayden shared his belief that 2016 would result in a war president -- and said that would be true if it was Senator Marc Rubio or Senator Bernie Sanders or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

We'll note this section of the exchange.

Jackie Goldberg: I think at some point or another, we have to see the situation in the Middle East as a battle between Sunni and Shia, not our battle, not the United States' battle. And we should be working very hard, I believe, to get the nations of the Middle East who have a stake in this -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Republic, Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq -- all of them -- all of them, Iran, they all have -- Hezbollah -- they all have a stake in the outcome of this. And in my view, I think we should be backing away from the war that Tom was talking about rather than continuing it and, instead, pushing very hard internationally to say to the folks that are involved in this that this is a struggle that you have over territory. It's not too different from the Christians and the Muslims and the Crusades. This is between two versions of-of Islam but they are mostly about the issues of power and control of resources and control of oil and control of government. And those are issues that, in my opinion, should be settled amongst themselves. If the United States does not wish to continue to be attacked, it has to look at its own policies. It has to look at why - why would we be seen as an enemy of one side or the other? And that is because we arm everybody, we make it possible for these wars to go on by selling arms to everybody. And who we don't sell arms to, the Russians sell arms to. So, at some point or another, if there is no possibility that those who are arming all of the sides don't disengage from the possibility of arming all the sides, I don't see an end to this. And I don't see a role for the United States, to be very honest. I know I'm probably very unique in all of this, but I don't think our role is to be there. This is a fight -- it's an age old fight. It's not new, it's thousands of years old and it is not, in my opinion, a fight that we should be taking on.Margaret Prescod: Yeah. And, Jackie Goldberg, I think there are quite a lot of people that will agree with you. I mean, there was a contentious debate that happened in the British Parliament just a couple of days ago on a vote on the UK joining the bombing of ISIS. And Jeremy Corbyn, who is the new leader of the Labour Party, put himself out there and totally opposed the bombing. A number of the more mainstream members of the Labour Party rebelled against Corbyn and went along with Cameron -- the Conservative, Tory government. So now the UK has in fact already be bombing and Germany is apparently now in on the act, you know, France has been in it for a very long time. There has been a very strong moment, Jackie, in the UK Jackie Goldberg: Oh, yeah.Margaret Prescod (Con't): -- opposed to this bombing.Jackie Goldberg: Oh, yeah. And there's a peace movement in the United States opposed to our continued involvement with drones and strikings and all of this. You know, if you are a young man living in San Bernardino and you are Pakistani and you see the United States continuously using drones on somebody who is "a target" but also other folks who get caught up in this -- civilians who had no role in this -- you begin to, you know, think, 'Well if civilians there are going to be targeted, then civilians here ought to be targeted.' That's how you get to where we are in the United States today -- our policy has to change and if it doesn't change, well the war will come home.Margaret Prescod: Yeah.Jackie Goldberg: And it has.Margaret Prescod: Yeah.Jackie Goldberg: And it will continue to come home. Margaret Prescod: Right and we are going to be talking, a little later on, after our station break, about that San Bernardino shooting and the various implications. What I would like to do now -- because I am assured that the sound is back -- and I'd really like to play this clip, it is from a PBS NEWSHOUR, Dr. Horn, before we go to you. And it gives some reaction to the reality of the US increasing special operations on the ground in Iraq and also some more about what is happening in the region, reaction to that. Let's go to that clip now.

Gwen Ifill: Many Iraqis -- led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi didn’t appear to welcome the news that U.S. is sending additional special ops forces in an effort to root out ISIS strongholds.Salah al-Rikabi, Baghdad resident (through
interpreter): We do not need any foreign forces, whether they are
American, Danish, Italian or French ones. The Iraqi people are capable.Fadhil Abu Firas, Baghdad resident (through interpreter): U.S. forces have no credibility and no good intentions. I consider this a new invasion.Gwen Ifill: At NATO headquarters in Brussels,
Secretary of State John Kerry denied that Iraqi leaders were not briefed
about the new force in advance.John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State: We will
continue to work very, very closely with our Iraqi partners on exactly
who would be deployed, where they would be deployed, what kinds of
missions people would undertake, how they would support Iraqi efforts to
degrade and destroy ISIL.Gwen Ifill: In London, British Prime Minister David
Cameron made his final appeal in Parliament to expand the current
British air campaign in Iraq to Syria.[. . . edit from PBS broadcast made by Prescod's show]Gwen Ifill: Separately, Russia released satellite imagery purporting to show
trucks delivering Islamic State oil in Turkey and accused Turkish
leaders of profiting from the illicit trade. Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the claims as slander.Later in the day, an Islamic State video appeared to show the
beheading of another hostage. The militants said he had spied for Russia
in Syria and Iraq.Margaret Prescod: Alright, so there you go, Dr. Horn. I mean apparently these new forces, at least the some that we heard in that clip, not welcome. We heard from people in Iraq and, of course, there's the growing mentions over the shoot downs by Turkey of the Russian military jet. And everybody pretty much knows that Turkey wouldn't have shot down the Russian military jet without a heads up from the United States -- even though there's that and on the other hand analysts are saying, 'Well the Obama administration really doesn't want to ramp it up any further -- from where I sit, it seems, "Okay, go ahead and do the shoot down but then let's try to dampen it down." Dr. Horn, give us your view on what's happening in all of that.Dr. Gerald Horne: Well during the war in Vietnam, there was a very useful debate as to whether or not that war was a blunder by Washington or whether it flowed illogically from US imperialism. And I think we need to have a sort of similar debate today. Particularly in light of the fact that the NEW YORK TIMES reported just a few days ago that Sirte which under Col [Muammar] Gaddafi [the late leader of Libya] was slated to be the capital of the African Union is now the capital of ISIS in Africa. And we need to ask some very difficult questions as to whether or not this is just another blunder by Washington or whether this flows illogically from a certain assumption and a certain kind of logic, particularly given that Barack Obama was elected in 2008 on the premise that he would not allow another type of an Iraqi fiasco to take place and yet he's presided over a similar fiasco in Libya, in north Africa, which has given a shot in the arm to ISIS. I think we need to recognize that it's very difficult for the United States, which is now in relative decline, to buck it's so-called allies, particularly Saudi Arabia which it is dependent upon both for oil and capital flows. And Saudi nationals, as we know, are major supporters of ISIS and, somewhat oddly, it's difficult for it to buck Turkey which, as you know, is in bed with ISIS as we speak. I think we should also recognize that with the close relationship with Israel, it's very hard for the United States to align with Iran against ISIS. And we also know that with this anti Moscow sentiment in Washington -- which is a hangover from the Cold War period -- and it is difficult to engage in what President Putin has called for -- which is a United Nations international alliance against ISIS. In fact, we know that just a few days ago the United States helped to twist the arm of Montenegro and entice it to enter the anti-Moscow alliance that is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- that is to say that NATO is expanding at the same time that NATO should be shrinking because the United States should be allied with Moscow against ISIS if it is sincere in its anti-ISIS thesis. So this is the problem we face and I don't think we can get out of this problem until we have an honest, far reaching debate as to whether or not these so-called blunders are not blunders but flow from a certain kind of illogic,

Staying with the issue of Turkey and Iraq, we'll drop back to THE DIANE REHM SHOW where Diane spoke with THE DAILY BEAST's Nancy A. Youssef, FOREIGN AFFAIRS' Jonathan Tepperman and the FINANCIAL TIMES' Edward Luce.

Nancy Youssef: But it was a week of vitriolic language. My goodness. We started on Wednesday with the defense minister, in an unusual move, calling reporters in and showing them satellite photographs of ISIS oil tankers crossing the border and saying that the Turkish president was personally benefiting from ISIS. And then we saw, the next day, Putin essentially condoning this. Russia demanding an apology for the shoot-down of its aircraft. The Turks expressing condolences and stopping short of that. And Putin promising that there was going to be repercussions, without offering any specifics outside of these sanctions. And so you're right, the result was not real progress. But the language that we saw this week was quite a step up from what we had seen even last week.Edward Luce: Yeah. And Nancy's right, there's been a lot of invective on both sides. I think that one piece of the invective that the Russians have been very pointed in their accusations that the Turkish have been buying ISIS oil is not fire without -- is not smoke without fire. There is something to this. President Erdogan has imprisoned journalists in Turkey who've written about this. The fact that his son-in-law, Bilal Erdogan -- and this has been reported in some detail by my newspaper, the Financial Times -- his son-in-law is part of a company, BMZ, that buys oil. And that this used to go through from Mosul, controlled by Kurdish groups, through various networks to a Turkish port, and was then exported in tankers there. Now, of course, that territory -- formerly controlled by Kurds -- around Mosul, is ISIS controlled. And the oil production is ISIS controlled. But the network remains. So Erdogan is absolutely neuralgic on this point. He imprisons anybody who whispers it and the Russians know that full well. They are striking him rhetorically, where it hurts.
Jonathan Tepperman: Looking forward, there are tensions or pressures that are pointing in opposite directions. On the one hand, both countries have good reason to deescalate. They have a very close and long-standing trade relationship. Russia is Turkey's number-two trading partner. Total trade figures are something like $30 billion a year. The two countries have a huge tourism industry, lots of connections. On the other hand, there is a problem, right? Which is that Erdogan and Putin are similar, very similar, in a bad way. Both are strongman leaders with weak economies, limited domestic legitimacy, and both rely on nationalism to bolster their domestic credentials.Diane Rehm: Hmm. Jonathan Tepperman: And that means that they have political reasons to keep ratcheting things up.

Mosul.

The Islamic State seized it in June of 2014 and they continue to control the northern Iraq city -- home to around 2.5 million people.

The Iraqi foreign ministry has
summoned the Turkish ambassador to demand that Turkey withdraw troops it
sent to an area near the northern city of Mosul.

It said the troops had entered Iraq without Baghdad's consent and that Iraq considered it "a hostile act".Turkey
says it deployed 150 soldiers in the town of Bashiqa year to train
Iraqi Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State (IS) group.

Iraqi President Fouad Massoum earlier
described the deployment as "a violation of international norms and law"
and called on Turkey to withdraw, echoing a statement from Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi's media office a day earlier.[. . .]The United States
was aware of Turkey's deployment of Turkish soldiers to northern Iraq
but the move is not part of the U.S.-led coalition's activities,
according to defense officials in Washington.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from the Kurdish region capital
Erbil, also said it appeared the Turkish troops were in Iraq at the
invitation of the governor of Mosul, Atheel Nujaifi."It seems like the government of Mosul has told Baghdad: 'We need
more help with fighting ISIL, and if the Turks are willing to offer that
help, we will take them up on that'," Khan said.

But just because a government official makes a statement doesn't mean that they're telling the truth. So while Iraqi officials publicly insist that this was a surprise, HURRIYET DAILY NEWS maintains:

Turkey will have a permanent military base in the Bashiqa region of
Mosul as the Turkish forces in the region training the Peshmerga forces
have been reinforced, Hürriyet reported.The deal regarding the
base was signed between Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President
Massoud Barzani and Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu, during
the latter’s visit to northern Iraq on Nov. 4.

Cecile Pouilly: We are concerned at reports of increasing human rights violations and
abuses committed against Sunni Arab communities in parts of Iraq that
have been reclaimed from ISIL.Reports indicate that Iraqi security forces, Kurdish security forces
and their respective affiliated militias have been responsible for
looting and destruction of property belonging to the Sunni Arab
communities, forced evictions, abductions, illegal detention and, in
some cases, extra-judicial killings. Sunni Arab communities have
also faced increasing discrimination, harassment and violence from other
ethnic and religious groups who accuse them of supporting ISIL.We
have received reports as well about their limited access to basic
services and essential goods, such as water, food, shelter and medical
care. We are particularly concerned about the situation of some
1,300 Sunni Arab Iraqis stuck near Sinjar in the no-man's-land between
Kurdish security forces and ISIL.Meanwhile, gross human rights
violations continue to be documented in ISIL-controlled areas.
Individuals suspected of disloyalty or of not conforming to the ideology
of the group continue to be targeted, and there are reports of
kidnappings and the burning and beheading of civilians. We have received
reports that some 16 mass graves containing the bodies of individuals
murdered by ISIL have been discovered in Sinjar.We urge the
Government of Iraq to investigate all human rights violations and
abuses, including those committed against the Arab Sunni communities, to
bring the perpetrators to justice and to ensure that victims have
access to appropriate remedies.We also call upon the Iraqi authorities to ensure that the return of
internally displaced people to their places of origin is carried out in
accordance with humanitarian principles i.e. voluntarily, in dignity and
safety without coercion or harassment of any kind, and that they are
guaranteed access to essential services such as shelter, water, food,
sanitation, and health services.

And a specific example of the above persecution can be found in the following Tweet.

Friday, December 04, 2015

In Tuesday's House Armed Services Committee hearing, US House Rep Beto O'Rourke asked a series of important questions of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Gen Joe Dunford (Chair of the Joint Chiefs). We noted his questioning round in Wednesday's snapshot. And we'll include this section:

US House Rep Beto O'Rourke: There's so much in
those countries -- I'll just use Iraq as an example -- that we do not
control, cannot control and will not be able to predict when it comes to
the political outcomes and so when we say we are going to set
conditions on our aid, when we say we are going to set conditions on our
military presence, do we really mean that? Is that a viable threat?
Will we really walk away from Iraq if the government there doesn't meet
those conditions? And I think that's an important question because if,
in fact, we will not, then I wonder what the motivation is there for
the Iraqi government to take the very important and very difficult steps
to integrate these other minorities -- whether they be Kurds, whether
they be Sunnis -- into a functioning government -- decentralized or
otherwise?Secretary Ash Carter: Uh, first
of all with respect to the first part of your question, uhm, the -- It
-- The -- Your point gets back -- is exactly the military and the
political going together. In addition to the -- The only end state that
involves the lasting defeat of ISIL is one in which there are --
whether there is local governance that cannot be once again supplanted
by ISIL. That's why once again the political and the military go
together -- that's the heart of the strategy and that's why enabling
committed, capable forces who can make victory stick is the other part
of the definition of victory, critical --US House Rep Beto O'Rourke: Yes.Secretary Ash Carter (Con't):
-- to the strategy. With respect to the leverage, I'll start there in
Baghdad but the leverage involves offering to do more for those who are
pursuing the same objectives and withholding our support from those who
are taking a different path or not going down the path they're supposed
to. So we find alternatives, we find people that can act. If-if-if the
people that we're dealing with are not capable of -- because we have to act and we will find such forces that are capable.

Ash Carter was either very stupid in his response or he'd elected to lie.

Nouri al-Maliki was rewarded by the White House with a second term when he'd done nothing to bring Iraq together. And after Barack Obama gave Nouri a second term in 2010, Nouri went on to further persecute the Sunnis.

US House Rep Adam Smith, in the hearing, noted how there's little difference for Iraqis with Haider al-Abadi replacing Nouri as prime minister (in the fall of 2014).

That should be no surprise.

The two are both from State of Law (Nouri started the political coalition, Haider served in it) and from the Dawa political party.

Sunnis, to focus on just one group, continue to be persecuted under Haider's leadership or 'leadership.'

Cecile Pouilly: We are concerned at reports of increasing human rights violations and
abuses committed against Sunni Arab communities in parts of Iraq that
have been reclaimed from ISIL.Reports indicate that Iraqi security forces, Kurdish security forces
and their respective affiliated militias have been responsible for
looting and destruction of property belonging to the Sunni Arab
communities, forced evictions, abductions, illegal detention and, in
some cases, extra-judicial killings. Sunni Arab communities have
also faced increasing discrimination, harassment and violence from other
ethnic and religious groups who accuse them of supporting ISIL.We
have received reports as well about their limited access to basic
services and essential goods, such as water, food, shelter and medical
care. We are particularly concerned about the situation of some
1,300 Sunni Arab Iraqis stuck near Sinjar in the no-man's-land between
Kurdish security forces and ISIL.Meanwhile, gross human rights
violations continue to be documented in ISIL-controlled areas.
Individuals suspected of disloyalty or of not conforming to the ideology
of the group continue to be targeted, and there are reports of
kidnappings and the burning and beheading of civilians. We have received
reports that some 16 mass graves containing the bodies of individuals
murdered by ISIL have been discovered in Sinjar.We urge the
Government of Iraq to investigate all human rights violations and
abuses, including those committed against the Arab Sunni communities, to
bring the perpetrators to justice and to ensure that victims have
access to appropriate remedies.We also call upon the Iraqi authorities to ensure that the return of
internally displaced people to their places of origin is carried out in
accordance with humanitarian principles i.e. voluntarily, in dignity and
safety without coercion or harassment of any kind, and that they are
guaranteed access to essential services such as shelter, water, food,
sanitation, and health services.

Nothing has changed.

US House Rep Adam Smith is correct on that.

So, by the answer Ash Carter gave, the US will be pulling its support for Haider al-Abadi.

No, that's not happening.

Haider's putting up a for-show fight about foreign fighters currently.

For-show?

He's already agreed to the troops Barack's sending over next.

The public statements are to shore up support internally and the State Dept and Sean MacFarland have already given Haider the go ahead to make these statements.

It's all for show and fake.

On Haider's part, on the US government's part.

And, no, Ash Carter, no one's planning to pull support from Haider currently.

He doesn't need to protect the Sunnis any more than Nouri did.

Ash Carter is either stupid (he's not stupid) or he elected to lie.

His statements were for-show.

They weren't genuine.

They were meant to mollify, not to tell the truth.

The Iraq War was sold on lies and continues on lies.

Remember, as noted in yesterday's snapshot, today on SOJOURNER TRUTH WITH MARGARET PRESCOD, airs on Pacifica's KPFK out of Los Angeles, one of the planned topics for the roundtable discussion is the announcement of US ground troops to be in combat in Iraq and Syria. SOJOURNER TRUTH was the only Pacifica program to devote a segment (see yesterday's snapshot) to that news this week.

Next,
in full coordination with the government of Iraq, we're deploying a
specialized, expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish
Peshmerga forces and put even more pressure on ISIL. These special
operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free hostages,
gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders.

Such huge news would surely result in massive coverage from the collective that self-describes as "independent media"; however, they made sure to affirm Ava and my charge that they're the beggar media, whores and smut merchants who couldn't get work elsewhere and are nothing but Panhandle Media begging you for money so that they can continue their worthless actions which include insisting on accountability for the corporate media while having no ethics of their own.

It's nothing but talking points as a circle jerk takes place in an echo chamber.

And they want free speech . . . when not attacking free speech.

Free speech actually translates to the smut merchants wanting to embrace their hatred of women -- that's what goes on at Pacifica's WPFW where Scooter played a hideous 'song' that was an attack on the vagina and a demonization of women but which Scooter insisted was a song that "told the truth." At WPFW, homophobia and sexism reign free on the airwaves. I don't know if that's because the idiots on the air are considered too stupid to be held accountable or just because they think the audience is that vile.

Let's move to Pacifica's high point when it came to the news about Iraq.

Margaret Prescod: And we are now going to shift our attention to Syria, Turkey and Russia. It's being reported that the Pentagon will increase special operation forces in Iraq. And, according to the NEW YORK TIMES, they further said that these new forces would be involved in targeted raids in Syria. And that a slow ramp up of forces should be repeated. This is in stark contrast with what President Barack Obama has said about limiting boots on the ground in the region.

Prescod was speaking on Tuesday's broadcast of SOJOURNER TRUTH WITH MARGARET PRESCOD which airs on Pacifica's KPFK out of Los Angeles. She was then joined for the segment by Gareth Porter who wanted to talk about everything but Iraq.

Even so, she tried. And she actually noted Barack Obama (something the co-opted and corrupted Amy Goodman couldn't and wouldn't do when she reduced the major news to a headline -- not even the lead headline -- on Wednesday's DEMOCRACY NOW!).

Equally true, she plans to have the news as one of her topics for Friday's roundtable discussion on SOJOURNER TRUTH.

That was Pacifica Radio's highpoint of 'coverage.'

You might think, for example, that KPFA's FLASHPOINTS would be all over the news.

You would be wrong.

Dennis Bernstein had other issues this week -- no, not more charges of sexual harassment -- he was interested in Korea and climate change and this and that and blah blah blah.

Well FLASHPOINTS isn't the only show on Pacifica Radio's KPFA, right?

There's the hour long, weekly VOICES OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA.

Certainly, that show, which airs Wednesdays, would be all over this news, right?

Wrong.

Well that's the Bay Area. What about Houston? Home to Pacifica Radio's KPFT.

Wednesday nights, they offer ARAB VOICES.

Right away, you knew this was going to be a serious broadcast as you were informed that they weren't going to spend time on the community calendar because they had so much to cover.

So much to cover.

Exactly.

This announcement is major, ground troops in Iraq --

Oh, wait.

They didn't address that.

They used the entire hour to air recordings of a gala.

Such bad radio as an old, tired man saying his wife told him -- after his warblings -- not to quit -- yes, you know this is coming because it's so old and so damn tired -- his day job.

In times of war, never forget, the most important thing is to air a recording of a gala.

Well they also have Thursday's PROGRESSIVE FORUM and surely that two hour program devoted time to Iraq and this week's --

Oh, wait.

It didn't.

Houston's KPFT needs to raise $150,000 by the end of this year (roughly in the next 27 days).

With programming like they offer, they make it very hard to donate.

In fact, they really make the case for pulling the plug on the whole operation.

They offer nothing.

Hour after hour of nothing.

Crap.

Nothing but crap.

The announcement about Iraq was made at a Congressional hearing.

In DC, for those who don't know.

What about Pacifica's DC station?

WPFW's programs ignored the news.

But they do produce their own news, WPFW.

So, surely, as CNN and other real news outlets -- corporate or not -- were reporting on it, since this was DC, you know WPFW was all over it.

Right?

Wrong.

One hour after CNN, BLOOMBERG NEWS, NPR and other news outlets were reporting the news, WPFW did a news break that never noted it.

Apparently, you can't include fluff and still have room for news.

The news break included a lot of nonsense. Here's about as much of one 'report' in that 'news' break that I can stomach.

Askia Muhammad: First Lady Michelle Obama has kicked off the holiday season at the White House by welcoming this year's Christmas tree. Tomeka Smith reports.Michelle Obama: Christmas! Merry Christmas! What's going on? We've got this fabulous tree!Tomeka Smith: The First Lady welcomed a Fraiser fir, grown in Pennsylvania. It arrived by horse-drawn carriage on . . .

Robin Leach and LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH & FAMOUS lives on over the airwaves of WPFW.

Please note, this 'report' aired on WPFW 'news.'

Aired the day that the announcement was made of US troops going into ground combat in Iraq.

Aired an hour after all the real news outlets were reporting the news.

WPFW had time for that garbage but not for news about Iraq.

Again, it's past time to stop supporting beggars who need to get real jobs.

We're not done with Panhandle Media but let's look to our 'activists,' for a second, to our 'leaders.'

Now I was at that hearing. We've reported on it here -- and for those late to the party, I'll include links before the end of this snapshot.

But I was there and that hearing that CODESTINK falsely says was on Syria -- just Syria.

The title of the hearing was "US Strategy for Syria and Iraq and its Implications for the Region."

Thanks, CODESTINK, we can always count on you to lead the world to disappointment and ignorance.

Back to the beggar media.

Circulation for THE NATION, THE PROGRESSIVE and IN THESE TIMES has plummeted.

The lie that Katrina vanden Heuvel loves to pimp is that when Republicans are in power, circulation increases because the readers are interested in accountability.

No, the readers are always interested in accountability.

They abandon crap ass magazines like THE NATION when a Democrat is in the White House because crap ass magazines like THE NATION abandon ethics and accountability and turn themselves into pleasure maidens for the White House.

But we can add that IN THESE TIMES is also ignoring the news about US ground troops in Iraq.

Now these rags and the Pacifica Radio programs have been all about attacking free speech.

They're blaming one of the multitude of shootings in the United States in the last two weeks on the Republican Party.

They're doing that because they're filthy trash.

Anything the Republicans -- and non-Republicans -- said with regard to abortion and Planned Parenthood is protected speech, it is the speech that's required in a democracy.

We are supposed to debate.

It is a free market of ideas.

It is the public square.

If you can't win the argument, that's on you.

I support abortions.

Liars and whores want to tell me I have to support Planned Parenthood.

No.

When five Planned Parenthood clinics -- or in five states, who can understand Cecile Richards ridiculous bulls**t -- are giving/donating fetal tissue?

They've betrayed women's health.

That is a whole other conversation.

I say that as someone who supports stem cell research.

But I'm smart enough to know that protecting women's health and women's health rights are important and they're under attack -- not just from Republicans.

In that climate, you don't decide you're going to also be donating fetal tissue.

You're begging for trouble.

And there's no honesty among the left on this topic.

Maybe because we're in the eternal election cycle or maybe because too many whores that should be starving instead are living off your donations and wasting them with bad coverage in print, online and over the airwaves.

Is Planned Parenthood going to be defunded?

It should be.

It should not get tax payer money while it endorses presidential candidates.

Cecile Richards needs to be held accountable.

Instead, Panhandle Media's telling us we need to rally around her.

No.

I'm not going to rally around some idiot whose stupidity is putting women's health at risk.

She should have resigned as president of Planned Parenthood.

But like Nancy Pelosi, who remained leader of the House Democrats even after overseeing the huge loss of the 2010 elections, Cecile's not held accountable.

But they're all on board, the circle jerk is, with the notion that the public discourse caused a shooting in Colorado Springs.

Political speech is protected speech.

If you can't grasp that, I don't know why you're making political comments in America unless it's just to flaunt your ignorance.

Bombings?

Bombings and shootings are not political speech.

Today, the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in IraqBomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 18
strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi
government:-- Near Huwayjah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL vehicles and two ISIL heavy machine guns.-- Near Fallujah, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL building.-- Near Mosul, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle.-- Near Ramadi, eight strikes struck three separate ISIL
tactical units, denied ISIL access to terrain, and destroyed an ISIL
tunnel, three ISIL vehicle bombs, nine ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL
light machine gun positions, three ISIL heavy machine gun positions, an
ISIL recoilless rifle, and an ISIL tactical vehicle.-- Near Sinjar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and two ISIL fighting positions.-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.-- Near Hit, a strike destroyed an ISIL-used bridge.-- Near Tal Afar, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit,
wounded an ISIL fighter, and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, and an ISIL
weapons storage facility.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic
events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a
single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a
single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle
is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons
against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for
example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or
impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not
report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number
of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual
munition impact points against a target.

Violence in the United States.

Hmm.

We're appalled that X number of Americans are shot dead in the US.

But we don't feel obligated to be outraged by the civilians in Iraq who are being killed by US bombs.

And we want to talk about actions and consequences while denying that maybe -- just maybe -- the US government's constant war, perpetual war, has an impact.

A government that resorts to dropping bombs -- not diplomacy -- over and over is a government that tells its people that violence isn't just a means, it's an answer.

Possibly, some unhinged Americans are more likely to respond to such a message?

And let's talk the very real consequence of Panhandle Media failing to speak out against war.

That is what's going on, it is what has been going on since Barack Obama was first sworn in as US president.

What are the consequences of the silence?

The never-ending silence that allows Pacifica, THE NATION, THE PROGRESSIVE, etc. to ignore Iraq and avoid calling out Barack?

Poll after poll demonstrates that this silence has allowed support for war to increase.

NEW YORK (December 3, 2015) — As an organization
representing more than 2.8 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and
their families, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) today
released the following statement on Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s
announcement that all positions in the U.S. military, including ground
combat positions, will be open to women in 30 days:

“This is a historic day for America and IAVA applauds this
groundbreaking decision,” said IAVA Founder and CEO Paul Rieckhoff.
“Today’s change is good for our military and for our country. It’s a
historic step toward true equality that will strengthen our military,
our national defense and the very fabric of our country. Nearly 280,000
women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2014. Women warriors
make up 20 percent of IAVA’s membership and 35 percent of our leadership
roles nationwide. We’ve seen what women can do on the front lines of
our movement. Now, the world will see what women can do in every role of
combat. Today, every little girl in America is one step closer to being
able to fulfill her dream of truly being able to be anything she wants
to be.”

“In IAVA’s most recent member survey, 70 percent of female IAVA
members believe women’s careers in the military are limited by
restrictions on women in combat. We believe today’s announcement will
shatter the glass ceilings that has held back women in the military.
This is why IAVA is fighting to fully support and recognize women, the
fastest growing population the veteran community,” Rieckhoff concluded.
IAVA continues to fight for improved services for women veterans as part of its Policy Agenda.
For example, IAVA has also called for the establishment of maternity
leave policies across all military branches that match the July 2, 2015
announcement by the Navy Secretary that women serving in the Navy and
Marine Corps will have 18 weeks of maternity leave to use in the first
year of her child’s life.

IAVA’s top four policy priorities are:
Continuing to Combat Suicide Among Troops and Veterans;

Fully Recognizing and Improving Services for Women Veterans;

Reforming the Government for Today’s Veterans; and,

Defending Veteran and Military Education Benefits.

Additional items in the 11-point plan include ending veteran
homelessness, supporting innovative healthcare solutions, supporting
military families, and promoting equality for all troops and veterans.

Note to media: Email press@iava.org or call 212-982-9699 to speak with IAVA CEO and Founder Paul Rieckhoff or IAVA leadership.Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (www.IAVA.org) is the
leading post-9/11 veteran empowerment organization (VEO) with the most
diverse and rapidly growing membership in America. Celebrating its 10th
year anniversary, IAVA has repeatedly received the highest rating -
four-stars - from Charity Navigator, America's largest charity
evaluator.

Next, in full coordination with the government of Iraq, we're
deploying a specialized, expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi
and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and put even more pressure on ISIL. These
special operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free
hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders.
For any confused as to what this actually means, Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube and Corky Siemaszko (NBC News) report:

"A raid is a combat operation, there's no way
around that," said Colonel Steve Warren, the Baghdad-based spokesman for
the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. "So yeah,
more Americans will be coming here to Iraq and some of them will be
conducting raids inside of both Iraq and Syria."

There's no way around it.

But there is a way around accountability.

And many in the press are happy to provide it.

US President Barack Obama swore no US troops would be involved in combat -- then it became ground combat -- war planes dropping bombs are combat fighters.

So now that there is no more weasel room for Barack and his broken promise is broken, how can you continue to shield the little tyke from criticism?

You offer headlines where the Pentagon becomes the subject and providing an active verb that places the decision on them -- as if the Pentagon is now commander-in-chief?

It's part of the whole rush to let the little tyke down easy, to spare him the responsibilities of the role of president because apparently he's never been up to the job. Part of the job, after all, is taking the heat.

It could just as easily be argued that Donald's critique demonstrates a considerable lack of understanding with regard to democracy and an informed public.

The stronger critique of Barack on this would be: When he wanted to say no US troops in combat in Iraq, he made that announcement publicly in front of the cameras but, when it was time to change the policy, he left it to underlings to announce.

Again, part of the job of being US president is taking the heat for the decisions -- not hiding away behind the skirts and pants of others.

The editorial board of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE argues, "Americans need to ask what is going on. Their military has been fighting
in Iraq for 12 years. Most of the U.S. troops were withdrawn, with the
agreement of the Iraqi government, four years ago. The government’s
mostly Shiite Muslim forces, with extensive U.S. air and other support,
are now trying to take back Ramadi, a Sunni Muslim city and famous
American battleground, from Sunni Islamic State forces."

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.